Court of Appeals Clears Gülen of All Allegations
The Supreme Court of Appeals Penal General Committee has cleared Fethullah Gülen of all allegations against him by upholding an earlier decision to acquit by the Ankara 11th Criminal Court.
The committee approved the acquittal 17-6 yesterday in a decision received with appreciation by the people and institutions connected to Gülen. Harun Tokak, president of the Writers and Journalists Foundation (GYV), of which Gülen is the honorary chairman, told Today's Zaman the decision came as a relief to the general public "at a time when we badly needed some good news." Tokak believes the committee's decision is approval of what he and his friends already knew:
"These charges should not have been filed in the first place. We know very well that Mr. Gülen had no activities meriting this court case," he said.
The Ankara 11th Criminal Court's May 5, 2006 acquittal decision was contested at the Supreme Court of Appeals Ninth Penal Department, and the court decided unanimously on March 5, 2008 to uphold the decision. Supreme Court of Appeals Chief Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalçinkaya then decided to bring the case before the Supreme Court of Appeals Penal General Committee, the highest legal authority on criminal issues. The committee decided yesterday to reject the prosecutor's suggestion to allow Gülen to benefit from the statute of limitations instead of being cleared of all allegations. The committee decision means no charges against Gülen may be filed on the same grounds unless the prosecutor claims the crimes have been repeated. Gülen was accused of "establishing an illegal organization in order to change the secular structure of the state and found a state based on religious rules." The case was filed on Aug. 31, 2000 in accordance with Anti-Terrorism Law, No. 3713. Yesterday's decision cleared Gülen not only of these accusations but also rejected Yalçinkaya's suggestion that the case should have initially been filed under Article 313 of the Turkish Criminal Law, which deals with accusations of establishing organizations in order to perpetrate crimes.
Gülen attorney Abdulkadir Aksoy told Today's Zaman that yesterday's decision tacitly implied that Article 313 would also not be applicable in any potential future cases. Aksoy said the committee decision was neither a decision to allow Gülen to benefit from a law on pardons passed Dec. 22, 2000, nor a decision based on the statute of limitations. In Turkey the pardon -- which came to be known in the Turkish public as the Rahşan Pardon, after Rahşan Ecevit, the wife of the late Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit -- facilitates a five-year delay of a trial and cancellation of all accusations if the crimes mentioned in the accusations are not committed during this period. "This is the ratification of the acquittal decision by the highest authority. Gülen was already given the chance to benefit from a pardon, but he chose to stand trial and be punished if found guilty, or acquitted of all charges," he said.
Columnist and intellectual Ali Bulaç commented to Today's Zaman that the decision, apart from serving domestic tranquility and social peace, would also boost Turkey's image in the international arena: "Gülen is one of Turkey's international values. He has been promoting Turkey's image all over the world. He is helping Turkey join in the process of globalization as an active subject and not as an object that is shaped. This man should not have been victimized. This court case was damaging the public conscience, and now the wrong has been corrected," he said.
Claiming that yesterday was a historic day for both the Gülen movement and for Turkey's legal system, Hüseyin Gülerce, an associate of Gülen and a frequent commentator on the court case, said the decision would boost the movement's dialogue and conciliatory activities. "These people were engaged in dialogue, they were introducing their educational activities worldwide, but they had this burden of the court case. They knew very well that Gülen was in no way guilty of the allegations, but their addressees didn't know that. From now on the movement will be able to promote the values of peace, dialogue and coexistence more freely and with a new energy," he commented to Today's Zaman.
Gülerce also suggested Turkey utilize this opportunity to re-launch the dialogue activities halted due to the unfortunate Feb. 28 process, referring to the 1997 decision of the National Security Council to exterminate all religiously motivated movements deemed a threat to the secular regime's future. "I am sure Gülen is going to re-invite those people who accepted his invitation to come together around the same table and speak about their similarities and leave aside the differences. This is what Turkey needs now. The future of our democracy is bound to reconciliation," he said. He also recalled Gülen's 1994 speech during a GYV opening ceremony, wherein he said democracy was a one-way street with no return. Gülen has also recently mentioned a form of democracy with a "spiritual dimension," a democracy that provides for people's needs related to the hereafter. "This has yet to be discussed," said Gülerce, adding, "This decision may be a window of opportunity to start such a discussion."
Though accepting the relation between the Feb. 28 process and the baseless accusations against Gülen, Bulaç does not think yesterday's decision can be interpreted as a symbolic end to the process. "There are still things to be done. Certainly, this decision will better the image of the judiciary in Turkey and increase the trustworthiness of the judges, but we still have a closure case [pending against] Turkey's governing party," he noted.
Tokak agrees that the decision will refresh the judiciary's credibility: "We all need the rule of law and the effective functioning of the legal system," he said.
Though also saying respect for the judiciary will be boosted as a result of this decision, Gülerce is not so optimistic about sworn critics of Gülen. "Certain circles will continue to say what they have been saying for 10 years. They will continue their intention-reading exercises," he said. Recalling the results of "The World's Top 20 Public Intellectuals" poll carried out by magazines Foreign Policy and Prospect, Gülerce complained that these "circles" were not happy to see a Turkish citizen top of the list. "They started to make up explanations for the votes Gülen received. They will do the same to the Supreme Court of Appeals decision," he said.
Gülen was voted the world's top living public intellectual in an Internet poll, the results of which were declared by Foreign Policy this week.
Initial remarks about the Supreme Court of Appeals decision yesterday revolved around the question of whether Gülen would be returning to Turkey from his 10-year stay in the US state of Pennsylvania. Asked about Gülen's plans, Tokak said Gülen's decision was unrelated to the Penal General Committee decision. "Gülen was already cleared off all accusations by the Ankara 11th Criminal Court. He had no legal limitations preventing him from returning to Turkey. Up until now, he has decided to stay there according to his own considerations and the advice of his doctors. I think his future decision will be based on the same factors," he said. (Kerim Balci, Ankara)
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